May 13, 2014

Nurse Trivia ~ 25 Things You Might Not Know

What’s the average age of a nurse? How far does a nurse walk during an average shift? Find out these answers and more with a little nurse trivia that you just might find surprising!

1. There are over three million nurses in the United States. Nurses make up the largest group of professional health care workers.

2. The first known nursing school was in India in 250 B.C, and only men were permitted to attend.

3. The New England Hospital for Women and Children, established in 1862, was the first nursing school in the country.

4. In 1873, Linda Richards became the first nurse to earn a nursing diploma in the U.S.

5. Mary Eliza Mahoney became the first African American professional nurse in 1879.

6. The average salary for a public health nurse in the 1920’s was $1,390 per year.

7. Before 1982, men were forbidden to attend some state-supported nursing schools.

8. Since 1970, the number of male LPNs has doubled, and the number of male RNs has tripled.

9. A nurse walks an average of four miles a day per shift. That’s nearly a mile more than a 5K run!

10. The health care industry accounts for one out of every five jobs created in the U.S.

11. According to data, Registered Nurse is the top occupation, as far as job growth through the year 2020.

12. Florence Nightingale, the most famous nurse in modern history, only worked as a nurse for three years. Her birthday is May 12th, which is why National Nurses Week concludes on that date.

13. Only 60% of nurses work in hospitals. Many of the other 40% work in fields such as home health care and skilled nursing facilities.

14. The average age of a nurse in the United States is 46.

15. The American Nursing Association says that more than 50% of nurses will be considering retirement soon.

16. Tens of thousands of qualified nursing school applicants were turned away in 2013 because U.S. nursing schools didn't have enough educators or adequate space to teach them.

17. One out of every four registered nurses works part time.

18. Due to an increased number of seriously ill patients, complex and specialized skill sets for nurses are in demand. These specialties include traveling nurses, nurse informatics specialists, acute nurse practitioners, geriatric nurses, hospice nurses, and home care nurses.

19. In the U.S. military, about one third of all nurses are male.

20. An 8 to 10 hour shift is considered a normal nursing shift. A shift of over 12 hours is considered dangerous, since overworked nurses are at risk for error.

21. In the late 1800s, nurses often had an average of fifty patients to care for. Duties also included sweeping, mopping, dusting, and bringing in coal to heat the room during their 13-hour shift.

22. The famous writer Walt Whitman was a volunteer nurse in more than forty hospitals during the Civil War.

23. In the United States, the ratio of registered nurses to doctors is 4 to 1.

24. A first year nurse earns more than the average college graduate fresh out of school.

25. And here’s one more interesting warning to nurses from a hospital in the late 1800’s: Any nurse who smokes, uses liquor in any form, gets her hair done at a beauty shop, or frequents dance halls will give the director of nurses good reason to suspect her worth, intentions and integrity.